Baldhead Bible Podcast

It has been three months since Israel crossed the Red Sea and left Egypt behind. It has been three months following Moses and the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. It has been three months of seeing Yahweh work miracle after miracle every day. It has been three months since the gift of manna was provided for them every day so they could eat in the desert. It has been three months of being tested by God to prepare them for this moment: the moment they meet God on Mount Sinai. Listen to this week's podcast to hear the exciting story of Yahweh descending on the mountain to meet Moses and to give Moses something that will change Israel and the history of the world forever.

I will admit this next story is not full of battles between Israel and a clan of giants, or there aren't any miraculous moves of God to amaze. Instead, this is a simple story of Moses being stuck with a difficult task to perform and his father-in-law Jethro coming up with a brilliant solution. But this seemingly simple story is also about pride versus a teachable spirit and how willing we are to accept and listen to criticism. If you find criticism hard to take and would like to become better at taking feedback, then today's story is for you.

I am unable to put out a podcast this week on our new series of Israel and their years of wandering in the desert. I am unable to because I am at one last camp for the summer season of 2022. This summer I told the story of Kings Joash and Josiah, and how their lives teach us many things. Some bad from Joash and some really good things from Josiah on how to live a life devoted to the Lord. I took those sermons and mushed them into one sermon when I have been asked to speak at churches this summer. Here is that sermon. I hope you find it encouraging and that it gives you practical ways to live courageously for the Lord in times of moral fog, or what I call cultural chaos.

Israel is on the move, all 2 million souls. They are following Moses and Yahweh as they lead them away from Egypt towards the promised land. They move in stages, from one oasis to the next, making their way towards Mount Sinai. It felt like aimless wandering to the average Israelite but not to Yahweh. He had a purpose and a plan for this journey from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law. That purpose was to reveal the hearts of the Israelite people. To reveal whether they had soft hearts ready to obey or hard, selfish hearts bent on pleasing themselves. This week we hear the miraculous story of God giving His people water from a rock and how, in the end, the people proclaimed Yahweh-Nissi: The Lord is our Banner.

This week we are going to start a new series. We are going to tell the story of Israel and its desert wanderings. We are starting today where the desert wanderings began: right after the victorious high of experiencing the miracle of crossing the Red Sea. Moses then leads roughly 2 million people to their first stop or station on the way to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. In today's story, we will hear the miracle of salty water turning sweet and bread falling from the sky. Listen to this week's episode to find out more.

We come to the end of the story in Nehemiah, but sadly for Nehemiah, the obstacles he faces are not over. He is about to meet one of his most significant obstacles, one of the tallest mountains he has ever had to climb. King Artaxerxes called Nehemiah back to be his cupbearer once again, and for two years, he left to serve the King. But then he returned to Jerusalem, and the thought he was returning to a people reinvigorated to serving Yahweh. But instead, what he found was something completely different and some significant challenges. Listen to this week's podcast to find out.

The walls are built, and the people are moving into Jerusalem to live safely behind the new walls. Things are going exactly to plan. And then Ezra reads the law. He reads the Pentateuch for 6 hours as the people stand and listen. And what happened next will shock you, but it will also remind you of the power of hearing scripture and how simply hearing God's words can change a life and a whole culture.

Nehemiah, and the people of Judah, finally complete the wall. And they meet it in record time. They completed the wall in only 52 weeks. What a fantastic feat, and it shows the brilliance of Nehemiah, but it also indicates that the hand of God was with Nehemiah. One way the hand of God was revealed was through saving the life of Nehemiah again and again. Listen to this week's podcast to hear how God rescued His servant Nehemiah from certain death and how Nehemiah was able to complete the wall.

Nehemiah is an organizational genius. He not only had to come up with a way to rebuild a wall nearly 2 miles long and 30 - 40 feet high, but he also had to come up with a way to build it under the threat of constant attack. How is he going to do that? How can he organize the people so they can overcome these obstacles and at the same time give glory to God while fighting to defend their homeland? Listen to this week's episode to understand that the genius behind Nehemiah was the fact that he relied on God to accomplish the task to which God called him.

Nehemiah wept over the state of the wall in Jerusalem. He was grieved to hear of the city's danger and the failure of the returned exiles to complete the job of establishing Jerusalem once again. Nehemiah felt that he had to do something. He felt God calling him to holy action. And so, his first step was also one of the most dangerous steps: he had to ask the King for help. But King Artaxerxes had recently decreed for all of the work to stop in rebuilding Jerusalem. And now Nehemiah had to go ask this same King to allow him to return, and not only that, Nehemiah had to ask for physical and financial help from this same King. What if the King got mad? He could lose his life just for asking. Listen on to find out what Nehemiah does and how the hand of the LORD was with Nehemiah every step of the way.

The book of Ezra introduced us to the exiles' journey back home to the Promised Land after a 70-year absence and all that the exiles went through attempting to rebuild the Temple. Finally, the Temple was built, and Ezra worked hard preaching and teaching the Law to the people. But now we run into a problem: the Temple is rebuilt, but the people are not moving forward. Jerusalem's walls are in ruin, and the Jewish people are fading into the culture around them. Enter Nehemiah. He sees the problem, and he weeps for his people and yearns for the safety of his people in Jerusalem. But he is an influential man stuck back in Susa, the Persian capital. What can he do about it? How can he help the people in Jerusalem? Listen to this week's podcast to find out.

This week we meet Ezra, the man the book is named after. We also come to the end of the story. Ezra was a man dedicated to three things: studying the Word of God, obeying the word of God, and teaching the word of God. Those three things were the dominant theme of his life and ministry, and they are on full display in this story. Because of those things, in just five months, Ezra causes a nation to realize something dreadful: they have broken their covenant with Yahweh and are in danger of judgment. What will happen? Will the nation be judged once again by Yahweh? Listen to this week's episode to find out.

The people gave up. For over 15 years, the Jewish people quit building the temple. They were threatened by the people of the land, who did not want them to continue the rebuilding. The Babylonian authority told them to stop. Everything was working against them, and in many ways, the Jewish people just gave up. But then God sent two prophets to wake the people up. Who were they, and what happened next? Listen on to find out.

Zerubbabel is forced to stop building the Second Temple. Jeshua and Zerubbabel had done so well. They had led the people back to the promised land, and they had made a new altar and begun daily sacrifices again to Yahweh. After a silence of 80 years, sacrifices were once again being offered to Yahweh. Progress was being made. But there was an enemy present. One who did not want to see God's people back and one who wanted to see all this progress come to a screeching halt. But how? How could they stop the work of God? Listen to this week's podcast to learn what they did and how Zerubbabel and Jeshua kept moving forward despite the opposition.

This week we start a new series on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Many believe they were originally one book later split into two, and that idea makes sense when you realize their story focuses on the same overall event: the return of the exiles to the promised land. The return of the Jewish people to their homeland occurred in three waves. Today's story focuses on the first wave led by Prince Zerubabbel and the decree of King Cyrus, allowing the people of Israel to return and rebuild the temple. But we begin by telling the story of Daniel. Now, what would Daniel have to do with this story? Listen on to find out.

We last left Jesus in the garden, praying, begging for this cup of suffering to pass from him. But in the end, Jesus knew it was His cup to bear, His cup to drink, and with His final conversation with His Father, He stood up ready to face the coming onslaught. And there was very little time for Him to reflect on the coming ordeal because right away, what He saw coming towards Him would have terrified the average person, but for Jesus, instead, He saw an end and a beginning. The end of His ministry on earth, but the beginning of His future glory. What did He see coming towards Him? Listen on to find out.

In this week's snapshot, we see the humanity of Jesus on full display. Remember that Jesus was 100% man and 100% God all simultaneously. And many times, we forget that Jesus was fully man and suffered in very human ways down here on earth. Sadly, in the garden, we see Jesus overwhelmed with the horror of the coming cross. Where others saw a beautiful garden, Jesus saw a beckoning sorrow, and with that, he began to weep. How did Jesus handle the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm Him? Listen to this week's podcast to find out and learn ways to make it through the trials you face.

In the next couple of episodes, we will look at snapshots from the life of Jesus. From the last supper to His triumphant resurrection. We begin with looking at graduation day for His disciples. Jesus had been honing and shaping them in the Jesus school of ministry for the past three years, and now they were ready. Graduation day had come. So what was Jesus going to say? As the graduation speaker, what were the words of encouragement He wanted to send His disciples? We know exactly what He said, and it's found in John 13. Listen to this week's story to hear His stirring words that still encourage those who call Him Lord and Master today.

This is the final episode in the Jeremiah series, and this is the last day he gets to spend in Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar has sacked Jerusalem and burned it to the ground. And now the people of Judah are being deported to Babylon, and Jeremiah is being dragged along with them and his trusty sidekick Baruch. These were two men who tried to live for Yahweh, who did their best to obey His commands, yet they still had to suffer the consequences alongside those who chose to disobey. Is that fair? How do we make sense of that? Why do good people suffer along with the bad? Is there an answer? Listen to this week's episode to find out the answer we find in the story of Jeremiah.

It had to be dark in that pit as Jeremiah slowly sank into the mud. As he stood there, he must have felt himself sinking further down into the mud at the bottom of this nasty, stinky cistern. How did Jeremiah end up there? Why did Jeremiah end up there? What could have been so bad that he deserved being shoved into a deep, dark mud hole? If you have ever sometimes wondered where God is in the middle of your pit of despair, well, this is a story you have to hear.